FENNY SAYS: WHO SETS THE BUDGET?

So… we are back to the budget issue. We have touched on it previously on this blog but it’s something that keeps rearing its head over and over again. We’re going to take another look at it because there’s nothing more stressful than when clients ask us to give them an idea how much it will cost to redesign their space.

Let me begin by asking you this. If you wanted to buy a car, would you not know how much you have available to spend? Once you know that, you already know the brands you can check and the brands you shouldn’t bother with. In addition to this, wouldn’t you also know if you want – a two door or a five-door car? an automatic or manual gear system? And a few other specifications depending on how detailed you want your search to be.

This scenario should be the same if you want to hire an interior designer to work on your home/office or whatever it may be. You need to give us this information so we know how deep we can go in the designing of your space. We can use Marble or we can use Ceramic tiles. Many design features serve the same purpose but some are just more luxurious than others so it is very important to inform and be informed when starting a project or making an investment (and yes I see interior design as an investment) especially when you can find information on just about anything on the Internet. Now I’m sure you’re wondering- “what is the point of an interior designer if I have to do all this” and to answer this question,

Your Interior Designer will do what’s best for you and your space. We will advice you on what fits in your budget, what doesn’t, what fits in your design style, what doesn’t, what works for your space and what doesn’t and most importantly, ensure that the proposed designs fit your personal preference.

I understand that someone who is not in the profession and has little knowledge of it may find it challenging to do extensive research, but you are the client so start from yourself because you matter most. Think about the minimum or maximum you have to spend and that would be an excellent start because truthfully the job can always fit into the budget the same way that you can buy a pair of shoes for N10,000 as well as N100,000. You can’t buy a N100,000 pair if you only have N50,000 in the bank.

I hope we’ve been able to shed a little more light on the issue, however if you have any questions or contributions, they are very welcome.

LS Loves-Legacy Place

Legacy Serviced Offices has launched their first premium serviced office centre, Legacy Place in Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria.

Legacy Serviced Offices was established in January 2016 to provide “plug and play” office suites and services for clients in Lagos. 

The 300sqm office space boasts of 8 private office suites,1 meeting room, 1 seminar room and a tea room, all benefiting from fast fibre optic internet service, uninterrupted power supply, a dedicated server room, telephone and mail handling, among others. These features ensure that clients can begin to carry out business at LP from their first day at the facility, without having to bother about essential services. The space is very modern and sophisticated with its frosted glass partitions, perfect illumination, bright walls and sleek furniture.

I love the simplicity of the colours in the space and the mix of materials. They give the perfect balance of life and light to the space.

I have heard that your office space can affect your productivity so its important to have a workspace that inspires you. Well, I think I have found all the inspiration I need at the amazing Legacy Place.  Legacy Place, 1619 Danmole Street, Victoria Island, Lagos

Phone:  (+234) 814 150 0022

Website: www.legacyoffices.com

E-mail:info@legacyoffices.com

Twitter: @legacy_offices | Instagram: @legacyoffices | Facebook: Legacy Offices

Brand your Interior Space.

There should be a seamless integration between a company and its interior space and the one thing that brings them together is the brand. The brand is what makes a company unique and it is important to always look for mediums to strengthen the brand. It is not one of the popular ones but Interior Design has its own way of strengthening a brand. The interior space plays a very important role in winning clients over and earning their loyalty, even more important than the product as the space is the first aspect of a brand that clients relate with.

Chanel Store, Neiman Marcus, Las Vegas.

Apple is one of the strongest brands today and that is not only because of their products. It is because of the seamless relationship between their products and everything that surrounds these products. Everything looks like everything; their phones look like their laptops, their laptops look like their website and their website looks like their store.

Apple Store, Santa Monica

The most important thing to do when designing a space for a company is to understand their brand. You must go through their mission statement, understand their logo and use the brand as your design inspiration. This will help you develop a design concept that adequately translates the essence of the company’s brand and helps ensure that clients experience the story of your brand when they enter the space.

Google Office, Budapest

In 2014, I developed a design concept for Christian Dior and this helped me understand the importance of interior branding. At first, I found the brief very challenging because I didn’t understand the brand and wanted to go straight into designing the space. After getting understanding of the Dior Brand, it became easier to design the space and choose the right colours, materials, textures, finishes and furniture to use. I named the concept- The Evolution of Fantasy because I thought that covered my understand of the brand.  I think I did a very good job with the design as I have come across pictures of a few Dior stores around the world that are quite similar to the one I designed but see for yourself and tell me your thoughts in the comments.

MY DIOR CONCEPT

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EXISTING DIOR STORES

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LS LOVES- The ABIL Mansion

Photo Credit – The ABIL Mansion

ABIL Group is one of the most successful luxury property developers in India.  We have fallen in love with their ongoing project, the ABIL Mansion. The mansion is a luxury high-rise building located on Hughes Road in South Mumbai – one of the poshest districts in India.

Photo Credit – The ABIL Mansion

The property market is growing all over the world and India is definitely moving along very swiftly with all other countries.

Photo Credit – The ABIL Mansion

There is obviously a high demand for plush developments with tasteful finishes and this must be why ABIL Group has chosen the ever amazing Donatella (Versace) to design the interiors of all 9 duplexes in their new development.

Photo Credit – The ABIL Mansion

The ABIL Mansion will be the first residential property in India designed by Versace Home.

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There is absolutely nothing I don’t love about the interiors of this mansion especially how well it represents the designer’s brand, the colours, the contemporary-traditional design style match, natural light… oh and did I mention the Kitchen?

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I hope you notice how clean the space is… Less is More 🙂

Photo Credit – The ABIL Mansion

Design Around Your Signature Piece

Signature pieces are the best way to interpret your personality in your space. They are pieces that reflect who you are and should make anyone that knows you smile because they understand exactly why you have it. A signature piece can be art, furniture, wallpaper, an accessory… anything . They are amazing but they can also be very tricky if you don’t understand how to work with it. The first thing to understand or accept is that your space will belong to your signature piece but if you pick the right piece that interprets your personality then that should not be a problem. The signature piece defines the colours that you can use, it may even pick the theme of your space for you and also the layout of the space.

Source- Matteo Nunziati

Many people believe that a signature piece either jumps at you or you spend time struggling to find the piece (or pieces) that is (are) right for you. I think your signature piece should jump at your from across the store or gallery. I don’t think you should go looking for it, I think you just spot it and it makes a statement immediately. That “you had me at hello” type of situation.

Source- Live Stylish Daily

Once you find your piece, you should see it as a guide to help you design your space. Whether you are moving into a new home and designing from scratch or you simply want to redecorate. A signature piece will help you streamline the colours that you can use in your space as not all colours would go with your piece except your signature piece is white, black, grey or any other neutral colour. My advice is that you should go bold with your signature piece except you choose to have more than one signature piece in your space. Yes, you can have more than one signature piece. The main piece needs to find you first and the you can go in search of more pieces that compliment it. Make sure all your signature pieces compliment each other so you don’t have too many pieces fighting for attention .

Source- Wall Art Prints Australia

When you’re designing around your signature piece, size matters. If your signature piece is a small item, you should place it where it will always be seen so that it doesn’t get lost and if your signature piece is a big piece, you should give it its own breathing space, don’t crowd it with too many things because that will cause clutter.

Source- Best Interior Designers

There are so many design ides you will get when designing or redecorating your space. Sometimes, all you need is a signature piece to guide you in you design process and finish up your space perfectly.

 

My Space is too small…

The first thing that comes to mind when I hear people complain about their space being to small is Le Cabanon.

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Le Cabanon de Vacanes or simply Le Cabanon is a 13sqm holiday home built in the South of France by Architect, Le Corbusier ( Charles Edouard Jeanneret- Gris. This Project is the only one that the Architect built for his own personal use.

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In my first week at Istituto Marangoni Design School, we learnt about Le Cabanon and had to design our own. The obvious thing in this clever space is that Le Corbusier put all wants aside and focussed on necessity. The Designer provides himself with a Bed, a tabletop, a toilet, a sink and storage. He didn’t bother with a kitchen because the cabin was attached to a café owned by friends of Le Corbusier and so he got all his meals from there. The only thing that I feel wasn’t taken into consideration and may have been a problem is the Bathroom. I had this at the back of my mind when designing my own Cabanon.

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Space management is very important. There is no space that can’t be managed. A space may be too small to fit a dining table for 4 or a storage unit with sliding shelves but its definitely not too small to eat in or store books. No matter how much space you have, if you are trying to design your space to fit every single design idea or image you have saved on pinterest, you will always crave more space.

Free your Space!!!

Clutter is possibly Interior Design’s biggest enemy. It goes against everything Interior Design believes in. It hurts the eyes, it affects the circulation and it affects your design pieces.

Often times, when people think they need a complete facelift, all they really need is to declutter and rearrange their space. This can change the look of a room significantly. The things you add to your space have a very strong impact on the final look of the space even if its just a table top accessory. Its like if you wear 5 necklaces and 6 bangles on a pretty dress, you completely ruin the whole outfit.

Designing your space without clutter or even decluttering your space starts and ends in your head. Its important to have the end result in mind from the beginning of the process. First of all, do not over-furnish your space. You shouldn’t be thinking of the additional sitting space you will need when you are having parties or hosting at the beginning of your design process. If you are not an event panner, then you definitely won’t be hosting everyday so you shouldn’t clutter your space with furniture that you have to live with daily. The days or times that you will need them are one-offs and when you do need them, you can get what you need and send it away when you’re done.

Source- Elevation Interior

Secondly, you must realise that not everything can fit. Some things may hold special value but if it does not fit your space, you should not force your space to live with it. Think of your space as a human being, You probably had your favourite shoes when you were 6 but now you are older and it no longer fits. You have to let it go.

If you don’t use it, then there is no need for it. This is a problem that we all have. Now that bread maker in your kitchen, you bought it 3 years ago, its still in the box, its never been plugged, you have never turned it on, you don’t even know how to turn it on, you’ve never made bread and you’ll probably never make bread. You don’t need to keep anything because you feel its going to come in handy one day. If that day hasn’t come by now, it’s not going to come.

Source- KG Showroom

Ensure that everything has its own place in your space. I always talk about storage so I’m not going to go into that again today. You probably have your bookshelf, shoerack, wardrobe and all other types of necessary storage but those its not the items that belong there that I am talking about today. You need to create a space for your daily essentials that don’t need to get stowed away but just need to be put aside tidily and temporarily. This is as simple as a console by your entrance or floating shelves or even just wall hooks to serve as a place for your bags, phones, keys, remote controls and other daily essentials.

Source- Memorable Decor

Finally, you need to Budget. Your space is not a one off event (and even those you have to budget for) it will always be there. If you’re moving into a new office or a new home or whatever space and you don’t set a budget and allocate your budget, you will keep on buying things you don’t need.

HIS STYLE, HER STYLE… HER WALK-IN CLOSET

So we have given the foosball table a nice home in the man cave. Now its time for the ladies to go wild with their own design style. A walk-in closet that serves as her sanctuary, her entertainment center, her dressing room and also a display room for all the clothes, shoes, bags and accessories.

Source- Home Design Lover

There are different factors that make your walk-in closet and the balance of these factors is what makes the perfect closet. Your closet needs to be bright, it needs to have well-organized wardrobes and storage but most importantly, it needs to be convenient to use.

Source- Mihome

One of the factors that make the perfect walk-in closet is the storage. It is important to know what you want to fill your space with when designing your closet. You need to ensure that the storage (shoe rack, bag rack, folding shelves, hanging rods, drawers e.t.c) you will have there can accommodate all these items you intend to store inside. Keep the storage units on the highest level for the items your don’t use often. The mid-level storage units can be used mostly for items that you feel you don’t use enough because putting them at eye level means that you see and remember them all the time. The low level or hidden storage units can be used to store those things that you cannot live without because whether you see it or not, you know exactly where you folded it and when you folded it there. Having good storage and a good storage plan means that you don’t ever have an untidy closet. You will be shocked how much untidiness and clutter can destroy your perfect interior.

Source- Decoration Channel

The light in your closet is another very important factor. You must ensure that you have sufficient light coming in from the right angles and in the right direction. Natural light is always amazing but in a dressing room, its better to depend on light that you can control. Your ceiling lights should be evenly spread and not in clusters so that they brighten the whole space. Make sure you don’t put your dressing table or mirrors directly under a light source and your mirror lights should be front facing lights because downward lights would not reflect well in mirrors.

Source- Fanrto

When I am in my (extremely unfinished) dressing room, I think about dressing rooms that are big enough for hosting and I get so jealous. I wish I had enough space for a sitting area. A nice corner sitting area for girly chat while you pick your outfit. This is good for company and entertainment and it stays out of your way. A middle sitting area is also very elegant and interactive but that is only achievable in a very big dressing room. Its more convenient to have a bench in the middle if you don’t have the space.

Source- Girlsonit

My last and most important factor in your dressing room is circulation. What’s the sense in a perfect closet that can barely fit a person? Exactly!! You must make sure that you don’t have to move anything around in order to move comfortably in your closet. Yes, you may have to walk around your bench or your ottoman if you have one but you should not have too many obstacles in your way.

Source- Metro Decoration

Whatever your design style, make sure you follow these tips to create the perfect walk-in closet.

 

MISSONI HOME-New Collections 2016

I just love Missoni and how consistent they have been, especially with their fabrics and patterns. They have just launched their new collections at the Maison et Objet trade fair in Paris this year and the bright colours and beautiful patterns are absolutely breath taking.

Oriental Garden Missoni 2016 Mood Board, Source- Missoni

“While selecting the hundred dresses from the different seasons of our 60 year old archive for the exhibition at the MAGA museum in Gallarate MISSION, L’ARTE, IL COLORE, we were mesmerised by the preciousness of the pattern on a silk dress from 1971. It was a pattern inspired by the orient, designed in the 70s for both fashion and home,  so evocative that we decided to reclaim it for the 2016 collection.  And to call it Oriental Garden.”-Rosita Missoni

Oriental Garden Missoni 2016, Source- Maison et Objet

I love how this collection has no boundaries. It goes from cushions to pouffes to beds. “Inspirations come as they wish… sometimes you’re looking for them, sometimes they happen unexpectedly.”

Oriental Garden Missoni 2016, Source- Maison et Objet

Their other collections include Anemones Dream, Floral Galaxy, Fireworks and Tropical Fish.

See more images of the collections below.

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The full Missoni Home Collection can be seen at

MISSONIHOME MILAN
VIALE ELVEZIA 22
20154 MILAN
PH. +390233103108 – FAX +39023319489
MISSONIHOMEMILANO@TJVESTOR.IT

MISSONIHOME LONDON
595 KINGS ROAD – FIRST FLOOR
LONDON SW6 2EL
PH. +44 020 7736 7967
MISSONIHOMEUK@TJVESTOR.IT

MISSONIHOME PARIS
28 RUE DE RICHELIEU
75001 PARIS
PH. +33(0)983 931 899
PATRICED@TJVESTOR.IT

HIS STYLE, HER STYLE… HIS MAN CAVE.

So guys, you are moving in with her, you have different design styles, you have tried to merge your styles to create a beautiful home but you are still not satisfied. You still feel like your ideas are lost in the space and you have no space for all your “precious” items from your bachelor pad. The solution is simple… You need a Man Cave.

Source: Etsy

Some call it their study, others call it their game room but generally a space where a man can get away from everything and just relax and reprogram his mind.

Source: HGTV

A man cave is the one room in the house that solely belongs to you and you can do anything you want with it. I’m talking books, newspapers, pool table, playstation, trophies, bar, car… the whole nine yards.

Source: Next Luxury

This room can be anywhere in the house but I personally believe a ground floor man cave is the best (like using your garage as your man cave and being able to drive right into your sanctuary)

Source: Next Luxury

This is your room to be wild, design wild.Some dark colours, wood, bricks, recliner, dimmer switches, large TV… really, the “room” is your oyster.

Source: Fagmers